The present invention relates generally to auto-help features associated with electronic forms and more specifically the determination and execution of additional feature applications in an electronic document.
In existing electronic document systems, there are numerous techniques for assisting the user in entering data into the electronic form. A common example of a data fill operation is based on previous data entry operations. For example, if a user utilizes an electronic mail program, input key recognition techniques may be used to anticipate a common electronic mail address. For example, if a person sends an electronic message to “user@address.com,” the electronic mail program may suggest the address after receiving the input “u.”
Another common technique is an approach commonly known as auto-fill. This feature allows for the automatic filling of multiple data fields in a multi-field input form. For example, if the form includes address information, the insertion of a person's name in the first data field may trigger the auto-filling of the data into the rest of the form. This technique can be commonly found in internet web sites where a user fills out an electronic form, such as an order form. One technique may include locally saved software code, e.g. cookies, that enable the auto-fill of the requisite information.
In addition to auto-fill features, there are other techniques for assisting a user in completing an electronic document. A common feature in current applications are the utilization of help commands. These commands are predetermined commands typically known by most users for the generation of additional preset features relating to assisting the user in generating data for a specific data field. Help commands are limited to the corresponding data fields and established specific data sets. The specific data sets are directed to finding the information for the specific data field, for example the help command relating to the address field for an electronic mail would use the address book as its data set.
In one example, a help command may be associated with a data field for an input form relating to an electronic mail message. The data field may be an address field for an intended recipient. The help command may include the auto-fill operation suggesting known addresses from an address book. Another example of a help command may allow a person to perform data searching relating to the data field. An example of this feature may be a designated keystroke or selectable icon on a visual display that launches a secondary display. In the example of an address book, current systems provide for a dedicate keystroke (e.g. F4) to automatically launch the address book. Another help command is entering the search term itself in the data field for performing the corresponding search. For example, if a user enters “Smith, W,” this may provide a pop-up window having the selection of “Walter Smith” and “Wendy Smith” if these names are in the corresponding address book.
As diverse as are electronic forms, there exists a corresponding diversity of the types of data fields. Help commands provide a universal interface for providing assistance to retrieving information for the specific corresponding data field. Additionally, since the help commands provide a general interface, the user is often required to perform various levels of steps to acquire the desired specific information. In one example, an electronic form may be related to a car, including data fields providing for the make, model and other elements. The form may include an additional data field relating to warranty information, such as available warranties that a purchaser may wish to acquire when ordering a vehicle.
In the existing systems using the help commands, a user may enter a help command to launch a pop-up window having a list of all available warranties. Because the help command is a general interface command programmed to provide assistance for the insertion of the input data for the warranty data field, the pop-up window is also a general window that includes all warranty information. A user using this system would be required to manually scroll through all the available warranties listed in the pop-up window.
Current help commands are limited in available functionality and can be cumbersome to user. The help commands are limited to the specific data fields and are limited by the corresponding data sets. Similarly, as these help commands are typically universal to the data fields, users are required to learn the specific corresponding commands in addition to other features of the system As the input form processing environment maintains the universal aspect to these help commands, their effectiveness beyond simple data retrieval operations is thereby limited.